


Ghost Stories

by cherryjam (blueskull)



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Alternate Universe, Eldritch Horrors, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Hyur Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Modern AU, but there's no wol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:54:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27395290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueskull/pseuds/cherryjam
Summary: “Is thisreallywhat had you shivering like a child?”The devourer of souls finds himself rather bemused with his lover's source of discomfort.
Relationships: Solus zos Galvus | Emet-Selch/Warrior of Light
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	Ghost Stories

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place in the same universe as [Lucubration](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26510758).

Arianna has always been painfully silent even when perhaps she shouldn’t be -- even in her own apartment. Thus what catches his attention is not the vocalisation, but rather the _lack_ of it.

Accompanied by the sound of her chair clattering to the ground.

He emerges into the living room, blinking blearily from half-sleep, to see her backing away from her laptop as if the piece of technology had bitten her. Hades cannot see -- nor sense -- anything else amiss in the room.

“Hmm? What’s the matter?” He manages to disguise his yawn with his disgruntled question, brushing a palm over his mouth briefly. It’s -- perhaps evening. He’d been bored and irritated earlier and gone to sleep...evidently she’d returned home during his slumber, though she had not deigned to wake him up.

Instead of responding verbally, the woman merely shakes her head, crossing her arms over herself protectively and moving away. One eyebrow quirks upward in vague interest; his golden eyes flick to the overturned chair, to the dim glow of the computer.

Perhaps something on the screen...?

Sighing aloud, he strides further into the room to lean down in front of the laptop. The sight that greets him is grotesque, to put it mildly; a drawn caricature of a woman’s face fills the screen, along with simulations of blood and other unpleasantries. The woman lacks skin, her eyes bulge in and out of her sockets in an unsettling loop, and the smile on her mouth twists in an eerie, wide grin.

This -- this was what had frightened her...? _Surely not_.

Hades’ very first, initial emotion, is _offense_. How could she be so terrified of this... _thing_ , while gazing at his souleater form with nothing more than vague curiosity? This ludicrous thing doesn’t even compare. It’s not even _real_. It’s a farce, a drawing. It can’t do a _thing_. He, on the other hand...

He turns away from the screen with a scoff in his throat, his lips curving in a sardonic, dry smirk.

“Is this _really_ what had you shivering like a child?” Surely she must be _joking_. Or simply startled. Not really -- 

He’s about to say more when something about her posture catches his attention. Perhaps it’s the way her shoulders hunch inward, or the way she shuts down from him even further as opposed to murmuring a response. The _lack_ of reply is just as much an answer as her voice.

Ah. She really is -- 

Another sigh leaves him, this time the sort that has his own shoulders sagging. Approaching the shaken woman, he scoops her into his arms without a word.

“Wha -- ?” The first verbal sound she’s made for the past several minutes -- he takes that as an improvement. Instead of saying anything, he moves her into the bedroom, where he throws them both unceremoniously into the sheets. She gives a tiny sound of confusion, though she curls up against him.

“Ah, good. Now we can go to sleep.”

“...B-but -- ”

He knows what she wants to say without having to wait for her to finish the rest of it. “You really think a nightmare would dare intrude upon the devourer of souls?” One side of Hades’ mouth quirks upward. “I’m the best dreamcatcher you’ll get. ...Besides, you should already be asleep, I think.” He brushes fingers through her long hair, settles them both more comfortably.

For a moment, she doesn’t say -- or even do -- much at all, simply lies quietly against him as her breathing slowly evens out.

“...I-I was. Scared.”

He sighs. “I know. What was that, a game?”

“Ah -- y-yes...” Her tone is somewhat sheepish now as she shifts to hide her face against his chest. He doesn’t bother to stop her, too occupied in running a hand through her hair and down her back.

“And why did you play it if it was scary?”

“...It sounded...i-interesting. A-and it was mostly...reading...”

A _game_ you _read_? Then is that really a game at all? Though regardless... “Why aren’t you scared of _me_?”

“You won’t hurt me...?”

“ -- Hmm. You do know that drawing can’t hurt you either, I hope?”

This question plunges them into a longer silence than before, doubtlessly as she tries to deduce how to best answer him. “I...it was still...scary.”

“And why am I _not_?”

Apparently his annoyance is sufficient enough to cause her to giggle; a tiny, hushed sound against him. At least she is in a better mood. Even if only marginally. He can live with his irritation so long as she’s no longer ashen-faced and blank.

**Author's Note:**

> [First fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26510758).
> 
> [Optional NSFW fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27242698).
> 
> [Halloween fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27298144).


End file.
